All In Your Head

Present-2013

John awoke instantly. He looked around the room, his eyes settling on the television set in front of him, playing a rerun of some sitcom.

He had returned to the present.

His pocket began to vibrate again. John sat up, flipped his phone open, and answered the call.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hi Daddy," the cheerful voice of his five-year-old son rang back at him.

"Hey, Ryan. What's your mom doing?"

"Making lunch. I'm bored Daddy. I thought maybe you could come pick me up and we could go to the park and play baseball or something."

John thought about his current dilemma. Althea would be home soon, and was sure to check up on him. She would probably prepare the soup, giving him an extra hour of sleep before their lunch at 2. He had Ryan tonight, but if he finished the meal quickly, he could retire early. Skipping dinner might worry Althea, but if he slept through to the next day without eating anything, John felt that would definitely concern her.

But if he could get to bed early, that would give him at least a few hours of daylight with his son. In the meantime, the park was right by Megan's house; they could probably find time to throw a ball around while Megan finished making Ryan's lunch. Then John could take Ryan back to his mom's, return to the past for a few hours, come back, pick up Ryan again. But it would be pushing the time too close. . .

"Daddy?"

"I can't, son. I'm not due to pick you up until 3:30 and besides, I'm working now."

He heard an impatient grumble on the other end. "You never take me anywhere or play with me anymore. What does it matter if you don't have to pick me up yet? What difference is a few more hours? All you do is work on your stupid stories. The dads of the other boys in my class make time for their sons, and they all have real jobs, at factories and stuff. All you do is sleep anymore. . ."

John was dumbfounded. For only being five-years-old, his son was making a lot of sense.

"All right. I'll be right over to pick you up, and then we'll swing by the park and play catch."

Present—2013

5 Hours Later

After John tucked Ryan in and he had been asleep for a while, John finally allowed himself to think about his wife.

What might she be doing, right about now? Given the late hour, hopefully she was asleep, not wide awake with worry.

Back in the present, John only had to answer to Megan and his son when it came time to pick Ryan up for a weekend. But the entire time Ryan was at his dad's, John had to be there with him. He couldn't just leave a child alone to take care of himself while he slept and spent time in the past.

Althea must surely have worried when John didn't wake up for lunch. He had to catch Althea when Ryan was asleep, and Ryan when Althea was asleep. Which was impossible, because it was the same time in both places. John would have to leave little clues to at least show that he was still alive.

John closed his eyes and fell asleep.